Thursday, May 21, 2009

Fantastic Headdresses

Fantastic headdresses k


Fantastic headdresses h


Fantastic headdresses

Fantastic headdresses a


Fantastic headdresses b


Fantastic headdresses c


Fantastic headdresses d


Fantastic headdresses e


Fantastic headdresses f


Fantastic headdresses g


Fantastic headdresses i


Fantastic headdresses j


These outlandish grotesque masks or headdresses -- looking like operatic design drawings or maybe a stoned costumer 's submission for 'Eyes Wide Shut'* -- are from a suite of twenty engravings after Denis Boutemie from 1638.

The work is entitled: 'Ouvrage Rare et Nouveau Contenant Plusieurs Desseins de Marveilleuse Recreation sous Diverses Caprices et Gentilesses' (known as Fantastic Headdresses), sourced from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

All of the available images from the collection have been posted and some background artefact has been removed. A later reversed version of the final image above was seen here previously, so it was great to accidentally discover the original engravings. I had been searching around on Boutemie after finding another whimsical (but different) set of his prints, which I'll post in the next day or so is here: The Genre of the Monstrous.
Posted by peacay at

4 comments:

  1. Sonic Reducer22 May, 2009 05:11

    Amazing! There is an artist in Mexico that made a similar work. His name is Eko. You can see som of the work in: http://gumucio.blogspot.com/2008/05/ecos-de-eko.html

    And he is too in facebook.

    Greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. explotaexplotameexplo22 May, 2009 18:32

    Absolutely gorgeous illustrations and fantastic art, great!!!

    http://almazhen.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anima23 May, 2009 00:30

    Absolutely stunning!
    Feel as if I am looking at some different kind of creatures...
    By the way I love your blog...:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Elatia Harris23 May, 2009 12:58

    Actually, it looks like Pier Luigi Pizzi's production of _Semiramide_ at the San Francisco Opera, ca. 1980. Fabulous!

    ReplyDelete

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